Lora Kratchounova

Principal

Expertise + Background

Lora has never questioned that marketing is her top passion. From her days as a marketing director for Shell Oil in 1994 to increasingly more digital and strategic roles across Modem Media (now Digitas), Vacation Coach (now TripAdvisor), American Express, and a series of startups, Lora now leads the consulting and marketing practice at Scratch M+M.

In addition, Lora continues to mentor, teach and support across numerous Boston-area organizations including the MIT Forum, The Startup Institute and Brandeis University.

Likes: Shoes, red wine, insanely complex technology, sushi
Dislikes: When people say “flush out” but they mean “flesh out”

Peter Atanasoff

VP

Expertise + Background

You could say Peter’s an optimist. A believer in the art of the possible and the promise of technologies and innovation, Peter gets excited by the opportunity to get to stretch goals. Driven by solid data analysis and structured approaches, Peter generally tries to get to the bottom of it.
Having worked in senior management roles within technology and professional services companies for over 20 years, Peter brings to our clients a consulting mindset and a breadth of understanding of marketing and business problems as well as the respective solutions. Peter is an active contributor to the technology start-up community in the Boston area through various forums and organizations.
This year Peter’s New Year’s resolution was (again) to make the most of it.

Likes: Music, cowboy hats, anything made of paper, architecture
Dislikes: When people don’t fill in their time sheets

Matt Grant

VP Content

Expertise + Background

Matt has long been obsessed with the power of language to persuade, entertain, illuminate and inspire. This obsession led him to get a PhD in German studies (where he focused on the intersection of politics, philosophy and writing) and teach for several years. When he left the academy for the corporate world, he ran training for a global staffing firm before eventually moving into corporate communications and marketing. Over the last 10 years Matt has launched and written blogs, overseen editorial for a global market research firm, improved the writing of countless executives, and hosted several podcasts (including “Marketing Smarts” at MarketingProfs). He brings to Scratch an endless curiosity about technology, a quick wit, and a well-honed knack for wordsmithery.

Likes: Guitar, music, nature, the history of human thought, laughter
Dislikes: Arrogance, cruelty, willful ignorance

Anya Nelson

VP Public Relations

Expertise + Background

Anya is resourceful, tough and unafraid of tackling new challenges. After spending almost a decade as a managing partner at a boutique tech PR firm in Boston, Anya landed at Scratch to lead and grow the agency's PR team while overseeing the strategy and execution of powerful PR campaigns. Her approach: be a helpful resource who understands and respects reporters' needs. She gets tremendous satisfaction seeing a well-thought-out and thoroughly researched pitch idea transform into a game-changing media placement. The only thing that makes her happier is watching people on her team blossom into PR superstars. That, and champagne.
She holds a BA in International Relations from Moscow State Institute of International Relations and an MS in Public Relations from Boston University.

Likes: cats, champagne, history, cooking, hiking, scuba-diving
Dislikes: raw onions, people who cut lines, unsolicited advice

Maria Bruk

Senior Account Director

Expertise + Background

Maria is always looking for the humor in everything and truly believes nothing is worth doing if you can’t have a good laugh while doing it. She started in publishing as a book editor, in Boston, Toronto, New York, Chicago, and New York again, then transitioned into B2B marketing, driving messages forward for a range of brands. With experience both in-house and at agencies, she ultimately decided that agency life is for her. As a Senior Account Director at Scratch, she brings unwavering energy, enthusiasm, curiosity, and her strong background in storytelling to all her client work through digital marketing, social media, content and events.

Likes: Books, music, editing, words, language, wine, travel, the beach in any weather
Dislikes: Bad spelling and grammar and people without a funny bone

John Saxe

Senior Account Director

Expertise + Background

John's background fits in well with Scratch's principles of Marketing the Future: just as products today are never finished and must always be innovating, John has a knack for constant reinvention and rejuvenation. He brings a wealth of experience in editorial management to Scratch, which he applies to the complex task of partnering with subject matter experts to tease out technical content and create compelling stories for different audiences seeking an understanding of the topic at hand.

Likes: Sailing; singing; subject-verb agreement and parallelism
Dislikes: Dirty microwaves; people who know less than they think they know

Susan Oblak

Marketing and Strategy

Expertise + Background

Susan loves the energy and drive of small companies looking to make their mark. A marketing executive with extensive experience working in start-ups, Susan enjoys helping companies find their voice in the market. A marketing strategist with a project management background, Susan leads cross-functional teams at Scratch to drive exceptional outcomes for clients.

Likes: Family, friends, red wine and PEI
Dislikes: Sushi, which makes having lunch with Lora difficult

Charlie Wong

Account Director

Expertise + Background

Charlie came to agency life as a skeptic, having worked in in-house marketing groups for years. He was delighted to discover that working at Scratch is all about thoughtful, bespoke, customer-centric solutions, and strives each day to bring skillful execution and new ideas to each of his accounts.
With a BS in computer science, an MBA, and two decades of marketing experience with B2B technology solutions, Charlie likes to accumulate data, craft narratives, and tell stories that capture the hearts and minds of customers.

Likes: Salsa and swing dancing, kung fu, crafts, and science fiction
Dislikes: When people say “wary” instead of “weary” when they’re tired

Natalie Ferro

Design Director

Expertise + Background

Natalie is a creative storyteller and a strategic-thinker. Leading the design team at Scratch, her experience ranges from multi-channel campaigns, building brand systems, cohesive experiences, concept development, event design, video, and data viz.  Natalie uses this experience to deeply understand every new project, creatively problem-solve, and delight clients.

Likes: Being involved in the design community, great copy, red wine, caffeine
Dislikes: Lack of caffeine

Laura Wills

Creative Director

Expertise + Background

Laura is a multi-award-winning designer and creative director – her work has been recognized in top awards shows and publications around the world over the last 20 years. Originally trained as a branding and packaging designer, Laura was an early figure in the world of interactive design and branding and for several years specialized in dot-com era start-ups. Her work has evolved over the years into a well-versed branding practise with a love for design and ideas of all kinds.
First and foremost a Design Thinker, Laura is dedicated to question-asking, strategic investigation, and clear, compelling storytelling. At Scratch she is the conduit between the consulting team and the creative team, helping our clients articulate and crystallize their vision, and leading the creative team into bringing each client's purpose to life – with skilled and compelling visual systems that answer real business needs across multiple touchpoints.

Likes: Simple pleasures and next-level everything else.
Dislikes: Using jargon instead of talking like a human, and hates when lunch is disappointing.